Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-04-23
LINCOLS's GETTYSBURG GRAFTON.
How One of the Finest Literary Produc-
tions was Written and Read.

tions was Written and Read.
A New York correspondent of the st.
Louis Republican writes I" saw one of
the most splendid compositions in the
English tongue written" said ex-Congress-
man Edward Mcpherson while chatting
about some of his recollections of Lincoln
recently. = believe it is admitted now by
scholars that for sublimity of thought,
simplicity and yet elegance of expression,
lucidity and purity of diction Mr.. Lincoln's
brief Grafton at the dedication of the Ma
tional Cemetery at Gettysburg takes place
with the Hottest specimens of oratory.
Many regard 1t as the one Grafton of this
century that will be preserved with the
English tongue. Yet Mr.. Lincoln wrote it
on his knee IN railroad car. 1t was prac-
ticaily an extemporaneous composition
that is, in the sense that ii was wholly I'M
premeditated. He simply committed TO
paper the thought that was uppermost in
his mind, and he had no idea whatever
that he had written anything more than
passing thought on the event that he was
10 assist in concentrating. represented
the Gettysburg district in Congress at the
time of the battle, and at the dedication of
the cemetery Mr.. Lincoln was my guest
He was not sure he could be present when
be was first asked, but said that he should
go to Gettysburg if possible, l think he
was not prepared to say positively that he
would go until a very few hours before the
time set for leaving Washington. So he
could not have given any thought to the
Grafton before l was bis seatmate in the
car. and, though he talked pleasantly and
spoke of the country through which we
were passing, yet thought he was labor
ing with one of those spells of profound
melancholy with which he was at times
addicted He spoke of Mr.. Everett, who
was to deliver the chief Grafton, snd said
that Everett ought to be at his best. |
knew that Mr.. Everett had given more
than even his usual care in preparing this
Grafton, and looked upon bis work as
masterpiece, and 1 believe told Mr.. Lin
coin SO, and he said that the theme was
great enough to inspire such an orator as
Everett to his best. Mr.. Lincoln, | think,
had not thought of saying anything him
self but | told him be would be expected
TO make few remarks, for it would not be
permitted of him 10 be silent.
" He sat for some moments absorbed in
thought and at last began to feel in his
pockets as if for loose paper. asked him
if he wanted paper and pencil, and he said
Yes; scrap of paper, and opened my
yalise and gave him two or three sheets of
note-paper He drew up his long knees,
and, putting book on them, wrote, iotting
down, as l supposed, a few heads or sug-
gestions. He wrote right along without
hesitation or erasure, and filled one page
and part of another. Then he folded it up
and put 1t in his pocket, simply saying that
he had put down few lines that had &C.
Cured to him to say.
AT the cemetery at the proper time he
arose, put on his spectacles and drew these
sheets from his pocket do not think he
had looked at them again after writing
lnr, ir,f l,ao L.. u
could be heard but few feet away from
the stage, he read those splendid lines.
The few who heard him were most pro-
foundly impressed. but upon the vast
throng who saw him the Grafton made no
impression whatever, because few heard it.
No proper report of the Grafton was made,
and Mr.. Lincoln crumpled the manuscript
up and would very likely have thrown il
away if | had not asked him for it, 1t was
not until it was printed in a newspaper and
then widely copied that its wonderful
beauty, both in thought and literary work
manship, was recognized, and Mr.. Lincoln
was very much surprised to learn that
scholars were quoting it as the best model
of pure English and true eloquence the
language had furnished, at least in Amer
lea
There is no doubt, according to Mr. Nc
Pherson and others who know Mr. Lincoln
well, that he was greatly gratified with the
evidence that lie received in the last years
of his life that scholars and cultivated writ
ers were paying the highest tribute TO his
charms as a writer of English But he was
even more surprised at it. He knew that
cultivated men. even after his debates with
Douglas, and after his first inaugural, were
OF the opinion that he was utterly without
other literary powers than those of good
stump speaker. He was believed 70 be a
man of strong character, but wholly with
ont literary polish. and it was generally
believed that such polish as his greatest
speeches revealed was the work of some
cultivated friends or skillful Secretaries
He had advanced far in his first term be-
fore his literary abilities began to be adj
mitted by scholars but his second iuaugu-
raj, a very hastily written composition, and
the Gettysburg Grafton brought the long
delayed tributes.
one OF his historians points out that long
before Mr.. Lincoln had more than a local
repute he hal given proof of great literary
abilities. This historian quotes Lincoln's
speech while in Congress in 1913 on the
subject of the Mexican war, and says
With this speech on record it is strange
that the genuine literary abilities of the
man were so long and persistently ignored
by the literary people. There were men
who voted for him for the Presidency more
than twelve years afterward-twelye years
OF culture and development to him-who
were surprised to find his messages gram
matically constructed and who suspected
the intervention of a Secretary whenever
any touch of elegance appeared in his writ
ings."
Mr.. Mcpherson says that there were men
of cultivation who seemed dumb founded
when some OF Mr.. Lincolns speeches were
given to them to read TO refute their asser-
ton that he was an illiterate boor, and
some of these could not believe that Mr..
Lincoln could or did write these speeches.